Both candidates for Virginia attorney general in Tuesday’s Democratic primary have much in common. They’ve both promised, for instance, to fight against Donald Trump and DOGE, and to protect abortion rights.

When it comes to who is funding their campaigns, though, there’s one source of cash that marks a striking difference between the candidates: Dominion Energy, the Fortune 500 utility company that has long thrown around huge sums to shape politics in Virginia.

In the attorney general primary this year, local prosecutor Shannon Taylor has accepted $650,000 in donations from Dominion, while former state delegate Jay Jones has not taken any from the company.

And that cash has made a difference: Jones had a significant fundraising lead this year — until Dominion began sending checks to Taylor.

The spending split shows how Dominion continues to shape Democratic politics in the state, six years after party leaders said they would refuse donations from the controversial electricity monopoly. In response to Dominion’s attorney general race donations, 14 current and former Democratic officials aligned with Jones wrote a letter this week calling out Taylor for what they said was a looming conflict of interest.

“The scale of these contributions appears to be unprecedented in Virginia Attorney General races,” the officials said. “This level of corporate influence over a candidate seeking the state’s highest law enforcement position undermines public confidence in the independence and integrity of the office.”

Hitting a theme of her long experience as a prosecutor, Taylor’s campaign said in a statement, “Shannon is the only Democrat who can be trusted to flip this seat and fight back against Donald Trump.”

In a statement, Jones’s campaign manager Rachel Rothman took a swipe at Taylor’s reliance on Dominion cash. She said, “Shannon Taylor is clearly aspiring to be Dominion’s in-house counsel.”

Power Player

Nobody in Virginia politics has a pocketbook quite like Dominion. The company is the leading campaign contributor this election cycle, according to the nonprofit........

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